Using two novel integrated systems to cool the air toward the ISO condition at the gas turbine inlet

Abstract

The gas turbine performance is heavily influenced by climate conditions. The more the temperature of the air coming into the compressor, the less the thermal efficiency of the gas turbine will be. The best performance of the gas turbines is achieved in ISO condition (15 °C RH 100%). In selecting a cooling system in this ground, features such as insensitivity to the ambient air and ability to use the heat recovered from the gas turbine give absorption chillers distinct advantages over Maisotsenko, evaporative and fogging systems. However, in hot and humid climates, in order for the air to be cooled toward the ISO condition, there is a need for significant cooling capacity of absorption chillers, which imposes additional expenses such as operational, maintenance and. etc. In this study, two new integrated cooling systems are presented as AMD and AED consisting of absorption chiller, desiccant wheel, Maisotsenko cooler (or evaporative cooler) simultaneously. In these integrated cooling systems, not only is the air cooled down to ISO condition, but also the required cooling capacity of the absorption chillers is significantly reduced. It is worth mentioning that in the novel systems, exhaust heat from the gas turbine is employed to both operate absorption chillers and regenerate desiccant wheel. In addition, the water condensed by absorption chillers supplies the portion of water consumed by the Maisotsenko or the evaporative cooler.